The vice president of the Government of the Canary Islands and Minister of Economy, Industry, Commerce and Self-Employed Workers, Manuel Domínguez, announced this Tuesday in a parliamentary appearance a series of measures included in the 2026 budgets to alleviate the tax burden on self-employed workers in the Canary Islands, including the payment of social security contributions for a maximum of two months of Temporary Disability and the bonus of interest rates for investments made by self-employed workers.
These measures are in addition to others implemented by the Canary Islands Government, such as the zero quota, the creation of the Self-Employed Observatory, and the +uno52 program, which seeks to promote the labor insertion of people over 52 years of age and will be launched before the end of the year. "This Government is indeed with the self-employed and listens to those who day after day move this land forward," said the councilor.
Regarding the measures, Manuel Domínguez explained that by 2026, the Government will subsidize the interest rates on loans for productive investments with the aim of promoting modernization, growth, and financial stability for self-employed workers. "This measure will allow self-employed workers to undertake projects for improvement, expansion, and digitization of their businesses with lower financial costs, facilitating access to credit under more advantageous conditions," he said.
With the aim of protecting the self-employed in the event of Temporary Disability, the Government of the Canary Islands will pay social security contributions for a maximum of two months of Temporary Disability. "We have all heard that a self-employed person cannot get sick because they have to continue paying the fees; we want this to change," he declared.
These measures are joined by the Concilia program, which includes three lines of aid to support the reconciliation of the family and work life of self-employed workers. The first is aimed at helping to hire a person to replace the self-employed worker in their business during maternity or paternity leave in situations of adoption or foster care, and also in the event of leave for self-employed women due to risk of pregnancy.
Secondly, the Concilia program also includes a bonus for the permanent hiring of a person to support the self-employed worker in the care of children under 12 years of age or dependent persons. And, thirdly, the Government will help the self-employed worker to cover the costs of centers for the care of minor children and people with disabilities, such as nurseries or residences.
The counselor explained that, with these actions, the Government is trying to "promote self-employment in our land because in the Canary Islands, with 90% of SMEs, we must speak of self-employed workers differently than in the rest of the national territory." Domínguez recalled the success of the zero quota, which benefited more than 3,000 self-employed workers in the 2024 call, and announced that for this year's call, the allocation for the zero quota has already been increased by 800,000 euros, from 2.5 to 3.3 million.”
